Online 2007 was a very successful exhibition for Soutron with a significant increase in the number of visitors over the past three years. The level of enquiries for Thesaurus Management was much greater than we had anticipated and made us feel that the investment in this new software is fully justified. Version 2.0 of SoutronGLOBAL Thesaurus was planned to be available for a pre-release demonstration and thanks to our development partners it was bang on time, arriving the Thursday before the show commenced, the following Tuesday. 

It was particularly nice to see friends from Italy visit the stand to see the new SoutronGLOBAL software that they have ordered and their excitement was evident as Graham Partridge, Soutron Business Manager, demonstrated the new system to them.

We also met up with Elisabeth Tooms, who was head of Global Library Services at Allen & Overy LLP until her retirement in 2004. However for Elisabeth, retirement was just from libraries. She is (amongst many other activities) the Stage Manager for a theatre group in London so words and actions are as ever intertwined in her life.
We were sad to hear from Judith Crowe that her library at the Institute of Alcohol Studies has been closed and her post made redundant. Judith was a user of the Soutron Library System at different clients in the eighties and nineties.

We also met one previous client that is still using the Soutron Library System software (an original DOS product that was the first Integrated Library Management System introduced into the UK in 1985) to look up records when they can’t find it on their newer Oracle system!
We met several clients who are using Inmagic software and no surprises .....DB/TextWorks is still the most loved software ever! We met people who are still using old versions and relishing their use of it given limited budgets or IT departments who tried to take it away from them. For those people as old as I am who remember Barry Hermiston who was the President of the User Group in 1990/91, he is still very much an aficionado of DB/TextWorks and expects to be using it for many years to come.

Those more recent recruits to Inmagic software were keen to see Presto and we conducted many demonstrations of this feature-rich web-based information management system that we have now been able to install on our UK servers. The reaction from everyone to this was pretty much the same - great user interface and very different look and feel from Web Publisher.
Our biggest interest at the show came from Library Managers seeking to find a hosted service and one that addressed specific library workflow needs in a fully web based LMS. The integration of the thesaurus with the catalogue and OPAC was particularly important to over twenty people who attended the stand and discussed library management with us.

SoutronGLOBAL LMS was extremely well received. The clear screen displays and high level of functionality were evident throughout. Visitors came from many different countries including Norway, The Netherlands, Russia, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Nigeria, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, all very interested in our systems with needs for multi-lingual and Unicode compliance at the forefront.

Soutron is increasingly dealing with clients either with overseas offices or who are based in Europe. Online represents one of many international library events that we expect to be involved in over the coming months and years. As a result we will be seeking dealers and companies or consultants who can help us provide expertise and services in markets outside the UK.

“Online 2007 was a great success for Soutron with a record number of visitors to our stand A big thank you to friends and clients alike who stopped by to say hello and to all those whom we met for the first time.” Graham Beastall  

                                       
PRESS RELEASE 04/12/2007: SoutronGLOBAL LMS released with new Standalone Thesaurus   

About Online Information                                                                                 Online Information is the worlds leading event for online content and information management. In the ever changing world of information, this event is a must as it offers you everything you need to know about managing information for business and gaining competitive advantage.

The Online Information conference attracts hundreds of people from all over the world and provides a platform for learning, debate, technology reviews & assessments, sharing of results, case study presentations and expert discussions. The conference theme of 2007 was:Applying Web 2.0: Innovation, Impact and Implementation.